New Foreign Trade Policy will focus on e-commerce: DGFT

New Delhi, Jan 3 (KNN) Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), Santosh Kumar Sarangi said that India will soon get its new Foreign Trade Policy (FTP) this year which will also include e-commerce.

In an interview with The Print, Kumar said India’s merchandise exports, which are expected to touch USD 450 billion this financial year, are likely to maintain “similar or higher levels” in the next financial year despite global recessionary trends.

He explained that India’s recently signed free-trade agreements (FTA) with the UAE and Australia, are expected to provide a boost to exports in the upcoming financial year.

Kumar emphasised on projections laid by IMF (International Monetary Fund) and WTO (World Trade Organization) which sees a low global growth in 2023.

“This is likely to have some impact on Indian exports. However, given the modest share of India in global exports (1.8 per cent), one can expect India to maintain similar or higher levels of exports in 2023-24,” Sarangi said.

“India’s domestic consumption demand has been high and the domestic manufacturing and services sector has been doing rather well to meet these demands. The FTA implementation with Australia and UAE would also likely have an influence on increasing Indian exports,” he added.

Speaking about Indian exports’ diversification in basket of goods this financial year, he said India has expanded into “non-traditional markets” like Africa, Latin America and the Oceania region.   (KNN Bureau)